Russians are obsessed with raping culture, especially if there are Ukrainians
Svitlana found out she was pregnant at 23 weeksâit was already too late for an abortion. Thatâs how her youngest son came into the world, a child she gave birth to after being raped by a Russian occupier.
Law enforcement is investigating this war crime: the woman has been recognized as a victim, and investigators continue to search for her assailant. Meanwhile, Svitlana is raising six children. Her youngest son hugs and kisses her without prompting, and she admits that only now is she learning to be the gentle mother to her children she always wanted to be.
Svitlana is finally alone in one of the rooms and silently stares at her reflection in the mirror. After about ten seconds, she steps away. It seems like if sheâd stayed just a moment longer, she would have started crying.
Only then does she begin to speak: âI have six children; the youngest is from the occupier. To be precise: exactly three boys and three girls.â
In early March 2022, Russian tanks rolled into the village of Mala Oleksandrivka. The occupiers began going door to doorâlooking for men with military experience, young women, and children, Svitlana recalls. All of her neighbors had fled, so she and her children became terrified. So she moved to a neighboring street, to Olehâs house. Even there, the Russians tried to abduct her youngest sonâthey came into the house and threatened her. She recalls: âThe Russians were wandering through the rooms and searching for who knows what on the roof. One day they came in and said, âWe need the little one; weâre taking him to Russiaâlet him live there.â And then they added, âDonât even think about itâwe can just kill you and take him.ââ
In the end, the Russians didnât take the child.
Svitlana mostly stayed at home, while Oleh went out more and more often. She thought he was out mowing the lawn somewhere. But then her husband started coming home later and later, and more and more often drunk. She didnât know until the very end that her rommate had been drinking with Russian soldiers. In May 2022, Oleh arrived at their yard with two Russians. He called Svitlana out of the house. She recalls: âHe said, âMeet themâthis is Shahâthatâs his nicknameâand this one⌠I donât even remember his second nicknameâheâs his brother.â I went out, said something in reply, and left.â
A few days after that first meeting, the Russians came to the house again, this time with Oleh. After lunch, a white minivan pulled up, and her roommate told Svitlana, âYou need to go with them.â She tried to refuse: âI begged him in every way possible. I didnât know where I was going. I didnât want to go anywhere. In the end, I decided to go. As soon as I reached the gate, they put a black maskâor some kind of dark green oneâover my eyes. They didnât put one on my partner. He was in the car too.â
Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped, and the Russian soldiers removed Svitlanaâs mask. She saw a market, a bank, and storesâand recognized the neighboring village, Velyka Oleksandrivka.
âMy roommate said, âGo with him,â and pointed to âShakh,ââ Svitlana recounts. â I didnât hesitate, because this Russian had a grenade, a knife, and a gun with him. We went up to the second floor of the store. I looked out the window, but there wasnât a single person in sight. Should I shout, âHelpâ? They wouldnât have heard me anyway. But I shouted out the window anyway.
The door closed, and he took off all those weapons⌠I didnât even know where to hide. There were some oilcloths and clothes on the floor⌠The grenade stayed next to him during the rape, which lasted, I guess, about five minutes. I didnât want to, and I was crying. He kept saying, âDonât cry, donât cry.â I already realized that crying meant nothing to them.
âDonât scream,â he said, and he covered my mouth so I wouldnât scream.â
After the rape, the soldier put his weapon back on: âI just ran out and shouted, âHelp!â And he said to me again, with that peculiar accent of his, âWhat are you yelling about? No oneâs going to hear you anyway.â There wasnât a single person around at the time. There was shelling and explosions.â
Svitlana was afraid to go to the Russian commanders because her rapist might find her and kill her. She had heard a similar story: âNot far from here, in the village of Davydiv Brid, a woman was raped in front of her husband. They went to complain to the Russian commander, and both of them were killed immediately.â
Svitlana lived in Mala Oleksandrivka under occupation for seven months. By then, only 300 of the original 1,500 residents remained. Ukrainian troops liberated the village in early October 2022. The very next month, Svitlana left. She says she couldnât stay there any longerâeverything reminded her of what she had been through.
Law enforcement officials have recognized Svitlana as a victim in a war crimes case. According to Igor Demyanyuk, head of the Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kherson region, investigators have identified several Russian soldiers who may have been involved in the rape, but Svitlana did not recognize any of them. The investigation is ongoing. The Kherson Regional Police are investigating 270 crimes committed by Russian soldiers during the occupation of the Velyka Oleksandrivka community: the Russians killed two people and raped two others.
Svitlana makes no secret of the fact that she wants the harshest punishment for her attacker. She says he should face the same consequences as the rest of the Russian soldiers who committed sexual violence against Ukrainian women: âLet him sit in captivity, just like ours did. The Russians locked our people in a well, in a cellarâjust ordinary people who did nothing wrong. They should lock him up like that and forget about him for a while. Let him face punishment. Let all the Russian soldiers who abused women face punishment. I consider them scumbags who came here and did such things in Ukraine⌠Iâm suffering, and besides me, how many other people⌠How many are they killing? Theyâre not peopleâtheyâre animals.â
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